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Lea and I had a wonderful day in Northeast Missouri last Saturday as we visited her sister, Kathy, and brother-in-law, Danny, who took us to experience Heartland Ministries, a sprawling community of farms, neighborhoods, industries, schools, and other ministries designed to glorify God. |
| Heartland is dedicated to helping people find an inner peace through Christ and to help them become assets to their communities through education, work programs, and vocational training.The goal at Heartland is to be a City of Refuge where emotionally damaged people can flee for refuge and restoration. | |
| Through Moses, God directed the children of Israel to establish six Cities of Refuge. The purpose of these cities in the Old Testament (Joshua 20) was to provide a place of safety for those who had committed a murder accidentally, or unwittingly. These were not prison-cities, however. They were places of safety and restoration. | |
| Each city was given to members of the tribe of Levi — the priesthood — meaning that those who fled to the city were surrounded by and ministered to by priests and their families, protected by the elders of that city from the avenger of blood (the nearest relative of a murdered person). They could dwell safely within the gates of the city for a predetermined length of time and eventually be able to return to their own homes, fully restored and ready to go on with life. | |
| The growing Heartland ministries include recovery centers and group homes for men, women, and children. The founder, Reverend Charlie Sharpe, began shaping Heartland in 1993, which today includes programs that places men, women and students in an environment to witness the grace of God in their daily lives. | |
| The students at Heartland follow a routine and schedule of daily chores, and are provided a Christ-centered education at Heartland Christian Academy. The school has also been providing this service to people in the Northeast Missouri area since 1996.The majority of the children in pre-Kindergarten through grade twelve are students in the recovery program. | |
| The ministry also operates a number of farms and businesses within their far-flung operation. By modeling their work ethic before the men at the Recovery Center, and by providing vocational opportunities for those in their community, the staff strives to implement Godly principles in every aspect of their business.Heartland’s dairy started production with 20 milk cows on April 7. | |
| Only four months after its launch, it became the largest dairy in the state. Currently the Dairy has about 4,500 cows milking, with several thousand more in the fields. The dairy houses one of the first rotary carousels in the United States, which makes it possible to milk up to 60 cows at one time. | |
| The process is ongoing; cows enter the carousel in single file and occupy individual stalls. Once the cows are on the carousel, employees disinfect the milking utensils and the cow’s udder, attach the machine, and milk the cow. After the 10 minute rotation of the carousel, the cow exits and another cow is herded onto it in place of the one that has just exited. | |
| Through this process, the dairy is able to produce 24,000 gallons of milk a day per 3,000 cows. The raw milk is sold to companies in Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri, who produce bottled milk, cheese, cream cheese, cottage cheese and ice cream. | |
| In keeping with its goal to provide work for those in the surrounding community, Heartland Dairy employs a total of 60 men and women from the Recovery Center and the surrounding community to milk cows, feed baby calves, raise heifers, and feed cattle. The dairy is open to the public and viewing windows make it very convenient to observe the milking process in operation. | |
| We were quite pleased to meet Reverend Charlie Sharpe that evening, while having dinner at the ministry’s Ozark Lodge & Steakhouse, where steaks are prepared tableside, gospel music playing over the sound system, and prayers being said at each dinner table. It was a wonderful experience, and recommend that if you are in Northeast Missouri you should call ahead for the tour of Heartland Ministries. Check out their website at heartland-ministries.org for more info. | |
| Here’s a short piece of video I shot that shows the dairy cows entering and leaving the carousel at milking time. | |
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October 22, 2007 at 7:24 am
BISHOP MARTIN AMURU
Dear Rev
Greetings of the season in the Glorious Name of our,
lord King Messiah Jesus! It is for him, by him, and
through him that we are partakers of the manifold
grace of God and the fellowship of the saints in
light. We are grateful that God has granted us to
serve his body through preaching of his gospel. There
is no greater calling and no greater responsibility
than to minister the word of the life——and as we
nears the return of our Lord –no greater challenge!
The word of God declares that we are a” chosen
Generation “ 1: peter 2:9 Never has this been of
greater significance than inn our day! It is ours to
know the sighs of the time and the season of his
coming, One Jesus’ serest rebuke was to the religious
leaders who could not read the “weather sighs” of a
red sky.
Or southern wind, but they could not discern” the
sighs of the time” and consequently they failed to
recognized the prophetic fulfillment of his coming.
We are those who are given to not only discern the
signposts of his return. But to prepare the way of the
lord!
Romans 8:14 declares for as many are led by the spirit
of God they are sons of God those who hear their
Lord’s voice they obey and follow
I Am Debtors that was Paul’s declaration! It drummed
in his heart, it throbs in his mind! It burned in his
soul! It was his meat by day and his travail by night!
By that he lived ! by that he was sustained ! for that
he preached ! For that he toiled! For that he
suffered! For that, when in God’s wisdom, the time
came, he died! he was a debtor ! So are we! We are
debtors to Christ Beloved of all the mighty,
munificent blessings Christ has showered down upon us
throughout the days of our lives. It will take this
day and tomorrow.
And the next, even a lifetime of every one of us to
tell the sum of all.
The benedictions that have been poured out upon us in
all the days of our beings. However, most of all,
above all, beyond all, we are debtors for redemption.
In agony, in loneliness, in shame, in travail, in
blood, in death on the cruel cross of Calvary, Christ
provided our Salvation. He built a bridge across hell,
paved a way into heaven, and provided a mansion in
glory. Surely our blood must Run faster, our hearts
beat harder, our eyes fill with tears of gratitude at
the measure of his love and sacrifice for us. We are
debtors to a lost world all around us, on every hand,
in every place, in every block, in a multiplied
multitudes of homes there are souls without God,
without Christ, without hope. We must give them, hope
for we are the hands and feet of Christ. again Souls
steeped in sin, sold to Satan straying into hell they
need help, we and we alone have the keys of heaven. It
ought be our prayer by day and our dream by night that
we must be ready to go out weeping, sowing the seed
so that we may come back rejoicing, bringing our
sheaves with us, to deposit at the feet of Christ
Think what it shall be when we close our eyes and
think upon Calvary’s cross, We see the pierced hands
the torn feet of our lord the steaming wounds on his
side and The crown of thorns and the agony of his
abandonment at the cross. is without Limit, it reaches
to the most unlovely, it knows no barrier of race,
color, class, Or intellectual level. It plumbs the
lowest depths and soars to the highest Pinnacle.
Acts: 16 9
Come and Help your brothers & sisters in Africa Now
Rev Please God May be Requesting You to Pray about
Africa,
Yours together in the fellowship of his love
Bishop Martin & Tabitha Njenjere.
March 18, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Dick and Carol McClelland
Enjoyed your article as we had recently heard about Heartland Ministries in Missouri from someone we know in California. As we travel through Missouri from Arkansas, we would like to know where this Heartland Christian Ministries is located. Could you please give us an address or at least the name of the city or town? Thank you very much for your cooperation.
March 19, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Larry E Vaughn
Hi, folks. You can get all the addresses for the various ministries through the website, http://www.heartland-ministries.org/. The dairy is located in LaBelle, in Northest Missouri, while other facilities are scattered throughout a two or three county area. Directions are also available at http://www.sharpeholdingsinc.com/map.html
November 25, 2008 at 2:39 am
Rev Martin Njenjere
Dear Sir,
Greetings in Jesus Name.
I beg to correct something to you that as l was checking GOOGLE WITH ONE OF OUR MINISTER IF THE ONE OF HIS MEMBER’S
CELL PHONE WHETHER HIS PHONE HAs INTERNET I SAW A LETTER THAT WAS WRITTEN BY SOMETHING CLAIMING IT IS Rev Martin Njenjere
Am Sorry that a year ago something got my password number and was missing Using my Name and writings Letters impersonating to be Rev Martin Njenjere.
Please I beg you to remove my name in YOUR internet..
Thanks and God bless you.
Rev Martin Njejere
December 22, 2009 at 5:20 am
donna lowe
this place is nothing more than a cult. faced with placing my son in either the hands of the state or in God’s hands i chose the latter. little did i know i would be placing Timothy in the hands of the devil himself. Charlie sharpe is a fraud. His so called ministry is a fraud. I thank God every day i had the resources to get my son out of that hell hole. MR sharpe will be surprised when arrives in hell one day. a day he has so richly deserved. His millions give him power in this little town. So do powerful friends such as Ashcroft. And, he is a charmer when you first meet him. That bastard certainly had me fooled. I was even told by his wife (who used to be Catholic), heartland was non-denominational. Right. That horrible place destroyed each Crucifix Timmy would ask family members for. When I told charlie’s spouse Timmy was Catholic she told me that did not present any problem as they were non denominational. I was lied to. The abuse both mentally and sexually eventually led to my son’s falling into a black hole he couldn’t escape. He died at 19 of an accidental overdose after self medicating to forget what happened there.
I witnessed that old man pick my 6ft 1in son up and shake him like a rag doll. His grandson held him while charlie took a paddle and hit timmy in the mouth ruining tim’s teeth. he had to eat “pig slop” at each meal as punishment and was told to lie to law enforcement officials after he was raped and sodomized by another boy. This place is a nightmare. DO NOT BE FOOLED BY OL CHARLIE OR HIS LYING WIFE AND GRANDSON. BY ALL MEANS IF YOU LOVE YOUR CHILD DO NOT SEND THEM HERE FOR HELP. I praise my God for not allowing Timmy to become brainwashed like so many kids there. It is very true that I’m bitter against this place. However, I have no reason to lie. And I find comfort in the fact when the old bastard dies he will get what he so richly deserves. Charlie Sharpe is nothing more than a snake charmer with lots of money to pay off who he needs to when faced with criminal charges from the state of missouri and civil charges from parents. That man is no more a man of the cloth than i am a nun. As i said, he is the devil. he rules by fear while preaching damnation. I also have proof of churches he calls cults, such as the Catholic Church, Methodist and Episcopal Churches among other mainstream religious faiths. I am a true believer in a loving and forgiving God although I hope this horrible person and his minions rot in hell.
July 17, 2011 at 3:46 pm
kimberley a schoenhofen
I keep coming back to your letter first let me say sorry for your son passing I then want to say when i found my son he had 4 breaths a min peramedics said he had 5 min left We was at witts end loving my son and protecting everything we had came as a chore ,He was the lowest i think he could get now i want you to know i have lost 2 children to sids so i know the pain of a loss Anyways We sent my son to heartland and for us its the best thing that could have happened to him We go every month sometimes twice a month and i believe they have saved my sons life i hope when he graduates that he deciedes to stay there rent free and have money he has saved over 5,000.he has learned to pay his bills and take responsibility for his actions He has become the man i knew he could become he is a person i would love to be around again and thats what heartland and god has done for him..Thank god we found this for him they have taught him so much and he loves it
February 15, 2012 at 2:52 am
L
Heartland is not the place it appears. They fail to show the program kids an accurate view of Jesus and Christianity. I can honestly saw I have seen more damage than good come out of this place. I pray everyday that the kids there can get out before their hearts are completely hardened to God. Its a cult. I lived there so I know what I’m talking about.